River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1887-08-04
From "The Farmer 81. Paul, MINI
The Chinch Bug.

ruin. Well, why do you plant them!
/ There is no more use of being eaten
up by chinch bugs, then there Is of
going lousy.
If person is filthy and the seed is
planted the lice will multiply and make
/ "A disgusting object of the individual;
so too, If the chinch bug has an oppor-
tunity to plant the seed, and the con-
ditions all favor, they will multiply
indefinitely almost, for their powers
in that line are immense. The ques-
tion then is, how can they be prevent
ed! l told your people through the
| Farmers Union, and also through the
I Pioneer Press a few years ago, of my
method. Since that time my opinion
and practice have become more fully
established. l have had no chinch
| bugs in the past fifteen years, and do
not expect TO in fifteen years more,
should ] raise grain so long. Please
now, follow me in the directions for
preventing them.
First.-Let us consider the bug in
its character and habits. 1t is a bug,
and not beetle. A beetle can dig in
the ground, a bug cannot dig, but must
OA1AA Vi WI AAb way NOh IA 4AAu anu
between the interstices made by the
Jumps, until it gets to the kernel of
grain where the female lays her eggs
right at the point OF the kernel where
the sprOut comes out. Thus the in
stiact of the bug is TO place its young,
where it can most easily get its living.
After the female lays her eggs the oil
bug dies. IL may have been observed
that the bugs are very thick and active
in the spring when the grain is coming
up. the air is full of them sometimes;
this is then their coupling time and a
time TO seek a place TO deposit their
eggs. and the bugs will be found thick
est over such fields as have not been
rolled or suOothed after seeding, for
on such lands are the conditions favor
able for heirdepOsits. The land being
cultivated in the spring when the
ground is wet will leave Jumps, and if
they harden. will leave the ground full
OF covered with Jumps aud will thus
furnish the cracks or interstices with
which the bugs can creep or work their
way down TO the kernel or germ after
ii has spTOuted.
What then is the remedy! Roll that
land Immediately after the grain is
sown, or plank or pole the land. If
done before tue Jumps become hard it
will be better than rolling. because it
more fully pulveriZes the Jumps and
fills the hollow places, as the pole draws
the dirt somewhat, and fills the track
Of the team and any other hollow. If
the Jumps are left to harden the roller
must be used. Thus il we completely
pulveriZe the Jumps and make the land
smooth. flling all the interstices, and
the grain is all covered up, IL not more
than 0ne-halt inch deep, the bug can
not get at the kernel to lay the eggs
ard there will be no bugs.
\ still further prevention is to seed
all land to clover at the time of sowing
the grain. The young clover will
grow, and form covering tor the
ground, shading it, keeping it moist.
and thus prevent their maturing. The
chinch bug must have it warm and dry
TO mature growth.
Still another remedy. If salt and
gypsum are sOwn upon the land at the
time the grain is sown, the mixture
will stimulate an active growth of
clover. as well as the grain. The salt
acts as a solvent, that is il will dissolve
the silica OF the soil and Jumps, and
thus aid in shutting up the cracks. Il
also keeps the soil moist ali acting in
harmony to prevent the propa CATION Of
the cninch bug, and still to secure a
better yield if NJ bugs are grown.
But You say the bugs are going into
the corn fields. True, the spring bugs,
or those from the spring laying are
now mature, and they seek place to
lay their eggs, and the corn furnishes
the best possible place for them. They
work themselves down between the
leaf and stalk to near the joint of the
stalk, and hear too, the instinct of the
bug is to place its young where it can
most easily get its living. These be-
come the bugs that winter in stalks,
and among old rubbish, and hibernate
until spring.
have thus given my method OF pre-
venting the propagation OF the bug.
Prevention in the first place is the
remedy. Even after the grain is well
up good rolling will destroy them.
If these precautions had been taken
last spring it would have added mill
ions of dollars to the crop of this year
in the Northwest.
But you may say the people in Kan
sas and Missouri are as much troubled
as we are. True, the ground becomes
dry and the land cracks so the bug can
crawl down to the roots, or crown of the
winter wheat plant, and there lay the
eggs. a good rolling will destroy
them, and if clover is sown on the
land early so as to get good start
there will be no bugs to trouble. Pre-
caution is the remedy, remember this
and act accordingly. n. E. ALLEN.